Randy Jackson
Randy Jackson was only four years old when the Jackson 5 was formed and therefore not considered an original member. While his brothers toured, he worked hard on his skills as a musician, mastering piano and various percussion instruments. Randy the pianist who enjoys playing Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Chopin is quite the computer genius. Although he (and his younger sister Janet) had made many guest appearances with the Jackson 5, Randy didn't officially join the family band until 1976, when they changed their name to The Jacksons and signed with Epic Records. At the age of 16, he wrote The Jacksons' most successful single on Epic, “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)”. He is widely thought of as the most talented instrumentalist of the Jackson brothers, playing congas, drums and other percussion instruments, keyboards and piano, bass, guitar. In addition to singing and playing on the Jacksons' recordings, he also worked with his brother Michael on his solo recordings, including the hit Off the Wall album. On March 4,1980 Randy Jackson at age 18 was driving his new Mercedes-Benz 450SL near the Hollywood Bowl, when he hit a puddle and began skidding slammed into a concrete light pole. Randy was trapped inside of the Mercedes-Benz, until the Los Angeles Fire Department freed him with the Jaws of Life. Both legs were crushed. Randy was hospitalized at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank, with two fractured ankles and internal injuries. In fact, doctors revealed that Randy wouldn’t be able to walk for the next eight months and he was forced to undergo two different operations on his legs. He reportedly suffers from handicaps as a result of this accident. The accident forced the Jacksons to cancel a world tour that was planned, but Michael said “all we’re concerned about right now is that Randy gets well and is able to walk again.” http://raresoul.com/2013/03/04/jackson-5s-randy-jacksons-legs-crushed-in-car-accident/ He reportedly suffers from handicaps as a result of this accident. In June 1980, he appeared on the cover of the the weekly African-American newsmagazine Jet. The cover headline read: "Randy Jackson Walks Again: Talks About His Future." Randy participated in the Jacksons' Destiny World Tour from 1979 to 1980, the Triumph Tour in 1981, Victory Tour in 1984, and in the band's later projects. After recording the 2300 Jackson Street album, the group disbanded and focused on separate projects in 1990. After this split, Randy formed his own band, Randy & the Gypsys. The group released only one album before breaking up. In the same year, Randy Jackson co-founded Total Multimedia Inc. with a former Iron Butterfly bass player, Philip Taylor Kramer, to develop data compression techniques for CD-ROMs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Jackson_(The_Jacksons) Randy Jackson was first married in 1989 to Eliza Shaffe. On 17 June 1990 Eliza gave birth to their daughter Steveanna. Steveanna is an aspiring actress who appeared on Zoey 101. Randy pleaded no contest to charges for spousal abuse against Eliza and completed his probation sentence. Randy and Eliza divorced in 1991. During his marriage to Eliza Shaffe, Randy had an affair with Alejandra Genevieve Oaziaza, producing daughter Genevieve. After his first divorce, he wed Oaziaza in 1992. She gave birth to their Randy Jr. and Donte later that year he was then adopted by the family. The couple were divorced in 1994. When they split, Alejandra in 1995 notoriously married and had two sons with Randy's older brother Jermaine Jackson, causing much strain in the family. While visiting a friend in Colombia in March 1993, Randy was kidnapped by leftist guerrillas but let go after eight hours when he convinced them he was actually a poor Jamaican evangelist. https://people.com/archive/one-big-unhappy-family-vol-41-no-8/ On May 2nd 1996 Randy flew from California to New York to rescue sister LaToya Jackson from abusive husband Jack Gordon. LaToya, who had not contacted her family, whom she publicly criticized for years, called Randy after she was allegedly abused by her violent husband of six and a half years. Randy immediately caught a plane and took LaToya from the hotel straight to Las Vegas. Here LaToya was treated for bruises and she filed for a divorce. To this day she is publicly grateful for Randy's trip to save her. In 1998, Randy Jackson opened up his own record label Modern Records. In 2001, Randy was part of the Jacksons reunion performance during Michael Jackson's 30th Anniversary at Madison Square Garden. On March 23, 2008, The New York Post published an article about the Jackson family which stated that Randy is currently in financial trouble and does odd jobs to make money, including fixing cars in a Los Angeles garage owned by a family friend. In 2009, Randy did not appear in the official cast in The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty A&E reality series. However, he did contribute backing vocals with Jackie, Tito, Marlon and Jermaine for Michael's "This Is It "